It’s getting to be that of the year again here in Arizona.  It’s hot, hot, hot.  My water consumption always increases as it should. The air is so dry you can feel the moisture just sucking out of your pores.

What is your drink of choice?  How much does it cost? How much could you save if you started drinking only water?  Are you a soda drinker?  Bottled water?  Coffee made at home, or some designer brand which costs $5 per drink? Beer, wine, or juice?  Power drinks?

Have you ever sat down and added up how much it costs?   I think you would be surprised to discover just how much you are spending on liquid refreshment.  The most frugal drink of all is water.  It can come straight from the tap if your water is safe to drink – and by that I mean free of chlorine and other harmful contaminants, and not only is it cheap but it has no calories.

When you stop and think about it, almost anything you drink adds calories unless you’re drinking water, unsweetened tea, herb tea or coffee.  Unfortunately most of the time several teaspoons of sugar is added into the mix.  I have heard some of the fancy coffee drinks can be upwards of 400 calories per drink.  That’s a huge chunk of your daily calories, and most people can afford to cut out a few calories.  Switching to water can be a simple way to save money and cut calories.

Even if you only drink water, it can still cost a pretty penny if you buy bottled water.  If your tap water is not drinkable one solution is to buy water by the gallon jug.  While striving to be frugal we should also take into consideration the effect to our health in using plastics that contain BPA.  Consider investing in BPA-free versions for all your water containers.  Here’s one reason from Science Daily:

BPA (Bisphenol A) is one of many man-made chemicals classified as endocrine disruptors, which alter the function of the endocrine system by mimicking the role of the body’s natural hormones. Hormones are secreted through endocrine glands and serve different functions throughout the body.

Once you have a few gallon containers it will be even cheaper to refill those jugs.  Most water establishments charge 25 cents per gallon. Here are a couple available from Amazon:

• Bluewave BPA Free 3 Gallon Refrigerator Bottle
• List Price:
• Price: $24.99
• Read Reviews

• Bluewave BPA Free 5 Gallon Reusable Water Bottle
• List Price:
• Price: $24.99
• Read Reviews

Don’t buy individual bottles of water.  Invest in an individual sized drinking container.

• Nalgene BPA Free Tritan N-GEN 24 Oz Wide Mouth Water Bottle
• List Price:
• Price:
• Read Reviews

What about ice cubes?  Most refrigerators come with an ice maker but if yours doesn’t do you buy ice cubes already made from the store?  Do you realize that’s a lot of money to pay for frozen water?   Making ice cubes is so easy and if you have several trays just get into the habit of emptying and refilling them each morning.

By the way, if you do have an ice maker in your refrigerator that isn’t hooked up to the water supply, but it is still whirring and trying to make ice cubes – disconnect it.  You will save money on your electricity bill!  We tested this out and found that we were spending $4.20 each month.  That’s not a huge amount of money, but it all adds up.

To be truly frugal like my Grandma, you have to economize on everything, even water and ice.  She drank tap water, and you wouldn’t have caught her buying a bag of store made ice.

Drink Water – It’s Cheap and Frugal is a post from: http://www.outofdebtagain.com. If you are reading it from any other website address than one beginning with http://www.outofdebtagain.com, the content has been stolen.

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